Less than half of Britons hit the 50 words per minute typing speed seen as
'minimum' for work

If you can’t bash out 50 words per minute at your keyboard, then there’s a good chance that your manager thinks you’re failing at your job.

Computers’ prevalence in the modern workplace means that this speed is seen as the “minimum” that people should have and new research has found that almost a third of managers said they would not hire someone unable to touch type.

The study by Microsoft found that 43pc of bosses think being able to type is a crucial work skill but more than four out of 10 British workers peck away at their keyboard with just one or two fingers – and more than half can’t hit the 50 word per minute (wpm) minimum.

Microsoft questioned 500 employers about their staff’s typing skills and found a 38pc believe being able to type enhances productivity and 20pc said their companies would grind to a halt if staff were unable to touch type of type quickly.

Professor John Sutherland, author and Emeritus professor of English Literature at UCL, said: “Typing is an incredibly important skill both in a personal and professional context. If it is a skill you lack, you are very much limiting your chances in the jobs marketplace.

“It is a skill in short supply at all levels in our education system and everyone should aim for a minimum speed of 50 wpm.”

Professional typists expect to average between 50 and 80 wpm though some jobs require speeds of 120wpm.

The Guinness Book of Records names the fastest typist as Stella Pajunas who hit 216 wpm in 1946 on an IBM Electric.

In 2005 writer Barbara Blackburn managed a top speed of 212wpm and maintained 150wpm for 50 minutes using a Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, which uses an alternative layout to the standard QWERTY one and is designed to reduce the amount of distance a typists’ fingers travel.